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Description: Teachscape XL is an online professional development resource that provides a web-based database with a search engine and tools for combining resources (including video) into personalized professional development teacher training materials.

Reviewer Comments:

Installation: Installation includes subscribing to the service and making sure computers can access everything needed. Apage on the Teachscape site helps users test workstations for needed software. Installation Rating:A

Content/Features: Teachscape has gathered together a large number of online institutes, classes, workshops, graduate and other programs of study, and additional materials aimed at improving communities of learning in a variety of specific ways. These resources include modules with video, text, graphic models, and other digital materials offered in a web-based digital database.

Every element of each set of materials (including text, video, and interactive resources) is available as an individual item in the searchable Teachscape training library. These items can be reassembled for personalized instruction programs, or users can create new resources of their own.

The graphic models illustrate key ideas. The communication and collaboration tools promote communication among members of a community of learning and provide a virtual forum enabling the members to communicate about their work.

The content creation tools allow users to add content to existing resources to make new materials. Existing content can be reorganized using resources from a variety of sources; schools and districts can create their own examples of professional practice.

The basic idea for using these materials is that instructional coaches observe teachers working in the classroom and talk with the teachers to select instructional skills for development. Professional learning resources designed to shape and improve instruction in those areas are selected. The teachers then work with the selected resources from their computer desktops.

Instructional coaches can increase the number of teachers they work with by using virtual coaching for individual online work. …

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